If I Could've Been
by Macy
Summary: Kaoru works for a SVU, working on a crime case. Kenshin's brought in for questioning, but first impressions aren't what they seem. These 2 meet and become friends, but how far can they let things go before someone gets hurt-or falls in love? K&K. A/U
1. Meetings

If I could've been  
  
By Macy  
  
seagreenbubbles@lycos.com  
  
Summary: Kaoru works for a Special Investigation Unit, working on a crime case. Kenshin's brought in for questioning, but first impressions aren't what they seem. These two meet and become friends, but just how far can they let things go before someone gets hurt- or falls in love? K x K. A/U.  
  
Kamiya Kaoru stared blankly at her watch for the hundredth time in a row. She wasn't in a bad part of town, but hey, an injured white girl alone at odd hours of the night wasn't something normal. She cradled her broken wrist to her chest, waiting for her partner to get here. When a girl worked on the Special Investigation Unit for the police, bones were bound to be broken. She got separated from Sano, her partner, in the midst of confusion, and when she talked to him on her cell, he was a good fifteen minutes away.  
  
"What the hell am I still doing here?" She asked no one in particular, still left with an edgy feeling after their latest case. The drug ring was just broken all about an hour ago, where she had her wrist slammed in a door by a man who was trying to hide. After wrenching in through his makeshift barricade, she held him at gunpoint until more help had arrived. She left once everything was under control, assuming her partner was waiting. " Of all the times to have a runaway suspect." She muttered. Sano had to help the police chase him down by car. Sweeping her raven hair away from her face, she began to walk to the front of the building she told Sano where she would be.  
  
"Hey, pretty girl, what are you doing out here at night all by yourself? Need someone to keep you company?" A voice called to her, and she froze, gun in hand before she even saw who it was. Yet her normal gun hand was broken. She had it in her left, and hoped that no one would notice the difference.  
  
"Who are you?" She demanded, blue eyes narrowing in a glare.  
  
"Me and my friends are just looking for a good time, lady. And we want to have a good time. With you." He laughed, and three more emerged from the shadows. They began to circle around her, but she didn't take her eyes off the 'leader'.  
  
'Where is Sanosuke?' She screamed mentally. Normally in these situations, Sano's height and build kept the perverts away, not to mention the fact that he cracked his knuckles habitually every three minutes. Dammit. She couldn't take all four of the guys alone and injured. She straightened her back and held her gun in a loose teacup grip, her right hand not useful at all. But if that meant keeping four guys from her, hey, who was she to argue over a little pain?  
  
"Heh, today is just your lucky day." The leader smiled, ignoring her yelp of surprise when the man behind her knocked her gun easily from her injured hand, but only after slamming his palm into the back of her head. She started to go down when he caught her roughly by the arm. Kaoru let out a cry of frustration as black spots appeared in her vision. She needed help.  
  
"And it's just about to get luckier." A soft voice called from Kaoru's left. The man in front of her froze, turning towards the speaker's direction, furious with whoever interrupted his fun. She turned her gaze to the left, eyes falling on a beautiful young man. He was certainly a sight to see. A man, probably older twenties, with flaming red hair. Angry violet eyes, rimmed slightly in amber, stared down the taller man that was threatening to rape this girl.  
  
"Who the hell are you? Get him!" Cried the bestial man, and Kaoru was dropped not-so-gracefully on the hard dirt ground as the three other men went to chase after this small, seemingly harmless man. Kaoru's gaze wavered, and she reeled forward, head between her knees, taking a deep breath. When she felt stable enough, she brought her head up, eyes sliding to a fight that was already over. The redhead stood, as if he had never moved, while three unconscious men lay around him on the ground.  
  
It was all she could do to not stare.  
  
'He took all three of the men? At the same time?' She wondered. 'Who is he?' But she could ask him later. The leader of the now-fallen entourage stepped forward, face twisted in anger.  
  
"How dare you? A little man such as yourself taking down my gang? Who do you think you are?" He took one more step towards the smaller man, and raised a fist. The redhead moved so fast that Kaoru was sure it had to be the pain blurring her vision. No one could move that fast.  
  
Before she could count to ten, the larger man was out like a light, struggling to breathe in unconsciousness.  
  
"Let's get out of here." Her 'hero' smiled, but with a sense of urgency. He held out his hand to help her up, and steadied her when she was finally on her feet. "Maybe I should call the hospital. You were knocked in the head pretty hard," He pulled out a cell phone from a jacket pocket, and flipped it open.  
  
"No, that's not necessary." She stilled his hands from dialing any numbers.  
  
"Your wrist is broken." He simply stated, as he looked at her hands. "I knew it when your gun was in your left hand, it wasn't as steady as it should have been for you to draw it and aim so smoothly. Please, at least let me get you out of this part of town. You need a ride?" He asked, and she turned to him, wondering if this was a trick. Yet his soft violet eyes were completely honest. He had no hidden motives; he just wanted to help her.  
  
"N-no, thank you. Someone's coming to get me in a few minutes. He's just running a little late." She smiled a wistful smile and shook her head.  
  
"I'll wait with you, then. You probably don't want any more unwanted attention, ne?" He smiled back at her. "So what brings you to this part of town? Especially all alone at night." His smile faded a little, as his features became more serious.  
  
"I'm here on police business. My partner, he got caught chasing a suspect, and well, we both came here in the same car. So I'm just waiting it out until he gets here."  
  
He frowned. "Ouch."  
  
"What do you do, um. I'm afraid I didn't catch your name." She bit her bottom lip.  
  
"Himura, Himura Kenshin. I. work. for a politician. And your name?"  
  
"Kamiya Kaoru." She gave him a small smile, hand unconsciously grasping her broken wrist. Kenshin noticed the movement, then turned, reaching into an inside pocket of his jacket. He pulled out a simple white handkerchief. "Well, Miss Kamiya, your wrist please."  
  
She just stared at him.  
  
"Please," He spread his hands in a placating gesture. "I've had my share of broken bones. Let me wrap it for you until you get to a doctor." She nodded, and he gently took her wrist and stabilized it tightly in the small cloth, doing his best to minimize the small cry that had escaped her mouth when he evened her hand out with her forearm.  
  
"Does that feel better?" He asked, still gently holding her wrist in between his hands, smoothing the cloth so that it would lay flat.  
  
"Thank you." She blushed at his concerned gaze, and looked down at her feet. "Not only for my wrist, but. with those guys back there."  
  
"No problem, I was just on my way back to-" Kenshin began to reply, but stopped to see the car pulling over in front of them. A tall, very muscled man with rumpled brown hair leapt out of the driver's seat.  
  
"Kaoru! Are you okay?" He asked worriedly, eyes flickering between her and the red head at her side.  
  
"Sano, I'm fine." She said, reassuring her partner. "Kenshin was just helping me. Really, he even wrapped my hand." She showed him, then quickly added, "I'll explain in the car."  
  
"Yeah, let's go. We're expected back any minute." Sano began to guide her towards the car, but she turned around.  
  
"Do you need a ride? After all of your help." Kaoru asked. He shook his head, and pulled out his cell phone.  
  
"I've already got one. Take care, Kaoru." He smiled, bowed, and began to walk away, soon lost among the overwhelming shadows of the area. She turned and walked back to the car, where Sano was waiting.  
  
"Boy, do we have a lot to discuss." Kaoru stated, as Sano started the car, driving away into the night.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"Who's the person?" Kaoru asked, smoothing the sleeve of her suit-jacket over her bandaged wrist. She had gotten a call earlier that morning saying they found a possible witness a case that had hung over the town like a big black cloud. This crime. Kaoru wanted it solved and she wanted it solved now.  
  
"Don't know," replied her partner. " All we know is they work for a pretty wealthy politician."  
  
"Ah." Was the only reply Sano got. Her memory flickered back to her previous day's encounter, but she focused on the case when she reached the door. She entered the room, first acknowledging the two officers who were supervising. She turned her eyes to the person sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, where she was greeted with a shock of red hair. Dark violet eyes received the look from her astonished blue orbs.  
  
"Kamiya, this is Himura." The officer in the room said. Kaoru, not moving her gaze, extended her hand to him. He stood up, and brought her hand to his lips, laying a gentle kiss on her knuckles. A small knowing smile spread on his lips.  
  
"We've met."  
  
It took everything Kaoru had to not jump up and throw questions at him. She calmly tucked her skirt under her as she sat down, breathing slowly. "Well, shall we get started?"  
  
TBC.  
  
A.N: Go ahead and hit that review button. This is the first time I have attempted to write anything like this, so let me know what you think!  
  
-Macy 


	2. Beginnings

If I could've been  
  
By Macy  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Himura Kenshin strode out the door, a quiet 'click' of the door closing behind him. Running a hand through messy red bangs, he took a deep breath and walked to his car. Pausing at the door, he slowly got out his keys, concentrating on his surroundings. He reached into his jacket, and pulled out a small black cell phone. He pressed a solitary number on the keypad, and listened for a reply.  
  
"You're clear." A voice simply stated, and hung up. With a final glance around him, Kenshin got into his car and began to drive away from the police station.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"So what exactly happened?" Sanosuke asked a weary Kaoru. She shrugged, and brushed her bangs messily away from her face.  
  
"I'm not sure, but I have an idea." She said, and picked up the pace towards the third level of the office building. "You'll hear all about it during the briefing." She groaned inwardly at the thought of having to sit through a yet-another briefing of the latest news, but she hoped that Himura might be helpful in solving the case. Waiting for the elevator to reach the lobby, she allowed herself to reminisce about the past few weeks, ever since the day the case was presented to the special investigation team of the chief police station in all of Tokyo.  
  
"As you know," The chief of police addressed to the entire investigation team, "There have been mysterious disappearances all over Japan, especially Kyoto. Many have been reported missing, and so far none have been found. We have reason to believe that it is kidnapping. A black-market of people, if you will." The chief turned around, pulling out a remote and pointing it at a large screen, and the images of missing people began to flash across the surface. "We have reason to believe," he continued, "That the people who are kidnapped are sold for profit. And we also have reason to believe that this is just the tip of the iceberg. So far, information indicates a place out of Kyoto, yet it's secret enough that we barely know their name. It also indicates that these activities may have been going on for the last thirty years." He let that sink in, a quiet hush befalling the room. Kaoru looked at her hands, lost in concentration. Who would be working a black-market of people?  
  
"Sir, what is their name?" She asked, breaking the tense silence as she lifted her head to peer at the faces on the screen.  
  
"They call themselves Takeda."  
  
The ring of the elevator landing on the third floor cleared Kaoru's head from her prior thoughts, and she shifted her focus to the present situation. She was expecting that the meeting would be tiresome, long, and quite depressing. She never counted on seeing the smiling face of the chief of police facing her when she pushed open the door.  
  
"Sir, what's happened?" She asked, puzzled.  
  
"Kamiya-san, it seems that a so-called Himura-san was brought in by our authorities. He was questioned in the kidnapping case, yet once I began to question him after you were called out, we discovered that he worked for Kogoro Katsura."  
  
"The politician?"  
  
"The very one. You see, we suspected Himura because when we sent an investigation team, his name kept on turning up. But Himura-san, we found out, has been working under Kogoro's own investigation team. He had mentioned something like that, yet we were unsure of whether he followed up on his promise, as a role model, to try and end this whole kidnapping mess."  
  
"So what happens with Himura-san?" She asked, "I just asked him basic questions, but you called me out of there, sir."  
  
"I did. Yet I have placed a call into Kogoro, and he has generously agreed to lend us Himura-san for the time being in order to solve this case. That is where you come in, Kamiya. Sagara will be on leave while his wife has her baby, so you will be partnered with Himura in the mean time." He gave a small smile. "The two of you will begin next week, leaving Sagara enough time to wrap things up here. In the interval, I suggest you start preparing yourself for some undercover work. That will begin once Himura is here." He finished, then moved on to some subjects that didn't concern her. Himura would be her partner? Her thoughts flashed on the redheaded man that she met just a few days ago.  
  
Things were certainly going to get a lot more interesting around here.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Well, I know that it has been awhile. And I know that this chapter really isn't dynamic, but I do have some good plans on this that I intend to incorporate, such as: What was that mysterious scene in the beginning with Kenshin? Who was he talking to? What is going to happen between Kenshin and Kaoru? These questions and many more will be answered in upcoming chapters!  
  
Thank you to all of you that have reviewed, and will review. You may just believe it is some easy little comment, but the reviews you readers leave have the power to leave the writer thrilled. It's great to check your email and see reviews waiting!  
  
~Macy~ 


End file.
